In addition, Sean Morrison, director of the Children’s Medical Institute at the University of Texas–Southwestern and a senior editor at eLife, has written an editorial introducing the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, highlighting the role this project could play in beginning to reform scientific discovery methods to maximize reproducibility. He notes that:

“to be responsible stewards of the public’s investment in this work we have to maximize the pace of discovery and the efficiency with which discoveries get translated to the benefit of patients. By gauging the fraction of high-impact results that are not reproducible, we can consider what further steps should be taken to promote good science….[M]easuring the magnitude of the problem with efforts like the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology is an important step in the right direction” (2).

With the publication of these Registered Reports, experimentation for the first three replication studies can begin. We are extremely proud to partner with the Center for Open Science and eLife to move the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology forward, and we look forward to the beginning of the data collection process!

Tracking our progress

You can keep track of the progress of the entire project here. We have made great strides in the last two months, moving many more projects along the pipeline. Our current status, as of December 2014, is detailed below:

Phase 1: A selection of key experiments are identified for each original paper

Phase 2: Protocols are drafted for each experiment

Phase 3: Protocols are transferred to Registered Report format

Phase 4: Protocols revised with help of original authors

Phase 5: Protocols revised with help of replicating labs

Phase 6: Registered Report is peer reviewed through eLife

Phase 7: Experimental work is begun by the replicating lab

Phase 8: Experimental work is finished

Phase 9: Analysis and evaluation of results

Phase 10: Replication Study is published in eLife for each original paper